Category: Overcoming Obstacles

I’m still shaking my head. At this miracle treatment. The syndrome for which I was told there was no cure. That only time would heal this common malady. The affliction of living with teenagers. Perhaps you know the symptoms, Dear Reader. The rejection of your very being. To be told, That you are a dumb adult, Totally no fun to be around, A colossal bore. With an 16-year-old and an 18-year-old at home, we are in the thick of it.

So much of Matias Ferreira’s life has not gone to plan. He never planned on losing both his legs and becoming a double-amputee while serving with the US Marines in Afghanistan. Once he started healing, Ferriera is the kind of man who was determined to come up with a new dream. Leave it to him to come up with a goal no one had accomplished before. He wanted to become a police officer. Friday, that dream came true. Big time. Steve

I’m smiling from this love letter to women’s sports. Sports of all levels and abilities. Do you move? Do you compete? Have you ever been told you can’t because you’re a girl? I bet you’ll love this short film as much as I do. ESPN put it together in honor of Women’s History Month, which happens to be now. Just in case you find yourself wanting to read the words as much as hear them, here you go: To Whom It

I stood in the back of a bookstore this week and cried. “Something got in my eye,” I would’ve said if anyone asked. I grabbed one of the paper napkins from the table with a plate of cookies to wipe a nose drip away. Classy, I know. I don’t know why I bothered. I love those tears. What prompted them. Besides, no one was looking at me. All eyes focused on her. About 15 feet away stood a friend. A

How much is there to love about Ed Sheeran? His songwriting? His sweet voice? His impish grin? Yes, yes and yes. He’s become an international superstar. There’s his talent, hardwork, his creative way of building his career. And then there is this– The illegal act that he says is the secret to his success. He opens up to CBS News’ Mark Phillips. I enjoy every second with the singer I like to call, “My Eddie,” (since I imagine he’s singing

Swimsuit model Hunter McGrady doesn’t like the label “plus-size.” She thinks it segregates her as a talent. Point taken. There’s no denying, however, that her skyrocketing career is growing in size every day. Her latest triumph is being featured in this year’s “Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition.” Hunter is very clear on what has been the secret to her success. Gaining weight. She tells People.com she spent hours at the gym and tried crazy diets to keep her 5’11” body at

Italian chef Bruno Serato learned long ago there was more to life than running a fancy restaurant. For years, he’s been creating and giving away delicious, high quality meals to kids at the Boys and Girls Club in Anaheim, California, not far from his high end restaurant, “The White House.” That was story enough. A story that almost had sad, unexpected ending when an electrical fire gutted the business early in February. What happens to kindness when your business goes

This isn’t just a story of one mom who has a son with autism. This one is more personal for me. It’s about my good friend and former CNN colleague, Parisa Khosravi, and her son Payam. I’ll never forget sitting across from Parisa at Houston’s. This is probably 11 years ago. Her young son wasn’t hitting the usual developmental milestones. After extensive testing, they had a diagnosis. This beautiful boy with the longest eyelashes ever was on the autism spectrum.

Jacob Mach has one incredible refugee story as a former “Lost Boy of Sudan.” NPR reports Mach was one of 20,000 boys forced from their home in Sudan in 1987 because of the Second Sudanese Civil War. Only half survived the thousand-mile trek by foot to a refugee camp in Kenya. Mach arrived in the US when he was 21. He went on to graduate from Georgia State University. That’s where his big dream of becoming a police officer was

A sweet boy from high school taught me something about love this week. Of course, he is no longer a boy. Now a man. A husband. A father. An incredibly happy one last July as he walked along Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France. Do you remember the evil that happened that night? As the French celebrated Bastille Day, their independence day? A crazed terrorist barreled a truck down that boulevard packed with people. His single mission was to destroy